( The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars. Rich in titles on English life and social history, this collection spans the world as it was known to eighteenth-century historians and explorers. Titles include a wealth of travel accounts and diaries, histories of nations from throughout the world, and maps and charts of a world that was still being discovered. Students of the War of American Independence will find fascinating accounts from the British side of conflict. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++ British Library T142786 In fact a reissue of the first edition with a cancel titlepage. With a final advertisement leaf. London : printed for J. and P. Knapton, 1744. xii,4,190,2p. ; 8°
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Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne was a second son of Henri, duke of Bouillon and sovereign prince of Sedan, by his second wife Elizabeth, daughter of William the Silent/prince of Orange.
He was born at Sedan, France, on the 11th of September 1611.
He was educated in the doctrines of the Reformed religion and received the usual training of a young noble of the time, but physical infirmity, and particularly an impediment of speech (which he never lost), hampered his progress, though he showed a marked partiality for history and geography, and especial admiration of the exploits of Alexander the Great and Caesar.
The methodical prince of Orange, the fiery Bernhard, the soldierly Cardinal de la Valette and the stubborn and astute Harcourt had each contributed much to the completeness of Turenne's training, and he took the field in 1644 prepared by genius and education for the responsibilities of high command. The work of reorganization over, Marshal Turenne began the campaign in June by crossing the Rhine at Breisach, but was almost instantly joined by an army under the due d'Enghien (afterwards the great Conde), who, as a prince of the royal house, took the chief command of the united armies of " France " and " Weimar. "
He continued to serve at frequent intervals with the prince of Orange, who was the ally of France, and his first serious service under the French flag was at the siege of La Motte in Lorraine by Marshal de la Force (1634), where his brilliant courage at the assault won him immediate promotion to the rank of marechal de camp (equivalent to the modern grade of major-general).
In 1635 Turenne served under Cardinal de la Valette in Lorraine and on the Rhine.
The siege of Mainz was raised but the French army had to fall back on Metz from want of provisions.
The reorganized army took the field again in 1636 and captured Saverne (Zabern), at the storming of which place Turenne was seriously wounded.
In 1637 he took part in the campaign of Flanders and was present at the capture of Landrecies (July 26) and in the latter part of 1638, under Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1608 - 1639), he directed the assault of Breisach (reputed the strongest fortress on the upper Rhine), which surrendered on the 17th of December.
On the 19th of November 1639 he fought in the famous rearguard action called the battle of the " Route de Quiers, " and during the winter -revictualled the citadel of Turin, held by the French against the forces of Prince Thomas of Savoy.
The latter held out, while Prince Thomas was forced to surrender on the 17th of September 1640, a fourth army which was investing Harcourt's lines being at the same time forced to retire.
He himself commanded during the campaign of 1641 and took Coni (Cuneo), Ceva and Mondovi.
In 1642 he was second in command of the French troops which conquered Roussillon.
Cardinal Richelieu nevertheless entrusted him with the command in Italy in 1643 under Prince Thomas (who had changed sides in the quarrel).
Turenne took Trino in a few weeks, but was recalled to France towards the end of the year.
He was made a marshal of France (December 19) and was soon sent to Alsace to reorganize the " Army of Weimar "-the remnant of Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar's troops-which had just been severely defeated at Tuttlingen (November 24-25, 1643).
He was at this time thirty-two years of age and had served under four famous commanders.
The four famous campaigns which followed brought to an end the Thirty Years' War.
Before the capitulation Enghien withdrew and left Turenne in command.
Ill-health forced Enghien to retire soon afterwards, and Turenne was for the third time left in command of the French army.
He was again unfortunate against the larger forces of the imperialists, but the campaign ended with a gleam of success in his capture of Trier (Treves).
In the following year (1646) he obtained more decided successes, and, by separating the Austrians from the Bavarians, compelled the elector of Bavaria to make peace (signed March 14, 1647).
Not only was the opportunity thus lost but a serious mutiny broke out araongst the Weimar troops, whose pay was many months in arrear.
The marshal's tact and firmness were never more severely tried nor more conspicuously displayed than in his treatment of the disaffected regiments, among whom in the end he succeeded in restoring order with little bloodshed.
He then marched into Luxemburg, but was soon recalled to the Rhine, for in 1648 Bavaria had returned to her Austrian alliance and was again in arms.
Turenne and his Swedish allies made a brilliant campaign, which was decided by the action of Zusmarshausen (May 17), Bavaria being subsequently wasted with fire and sword until a second and more secure pacification was obtained.
In this war Turenne sustained one of his few reverses at Rethel (December 15, 1650); but the second conflict ended in the early months of the following year with the collapse of the court party and the release of the princes. Turenne became reconciled and returned to Paris in May, but the trouble soon revived and before long Conde again raised the standard of revolt in the south of France.
In this, the third war of the Fronde, Turenne and Conde were opposed to each other, the marshal commanding the royal armies, the prince that of the Frondeurs and their Spanish allies.
Conde and the Spaniards, however, still remained to be dealt with, and the long drawn out campaigns of the "Spanish Fronde" gave ample scope for the display of scientific generalship on the part of both the famous captains.
In 1653 the advantage was with Turenne, who captured Rethel, St Menehould and Muzon, while Conde's sole prize was Rocroy.
The short campaign of 1654 was again to the advantage of the French; on the 25th of July the Spanish were defeated at Arras.
In 1655 more ground was gained, but in 1656 Turenne was defeated at Valenciennes in the same way as he had beaten Conde at Arras.
The war was eventually concluded in 1657 by Turenne's victory at the Dunes near Dunkirk, in which a corps of English veterans sent by Cromwell played a notable part (June 3-14); a victory which, followed by another successful campaign in 1658, led to the peace of the Pyrenees in 1659.
On the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661 Louis XIV took the reins of government into his own hands and one of his first acts was to appoint Turenne " marshal-general of the camps and armies of the king. "
Turenne declined.
But he sincerely deplored the division of the Christian church into two hostile camps.
In 1667 he had returned to the more congenial air of the " Camps and Armies of the King, " directing, nominally under Louis XIV, the famous " Promenade militaire " in which the French overran the Spanish Netherlands.
Turenne was with the army commanded by the king which overran Holland up to the gates of Amsterdam.
The terms offered by Louis to the prince of Orange were such as to arouse a more bitter resistance.
This heroic measure completely checked Turenne, whom the king had left in command.
Europe was aroused to action by the news of this event, and the war spread to Germany.
Turenne fought a successful war of manoeuvre on the middle Rhine while Conde covered Alsace.
Under orders from Paris the French wasted the country far and wide, and this devastation has usually been considered the gravest blot on Turenne's fame, though it is difficult to say that it was more unjustifiable than other similar incidents in medieval and even in modern war.
In the autumn the allies again advanced, and though Turenne was again outmanoeuvred, his failure on this occasion was due to the action of the neutral city of Strassburg in permitting the enemy to cross the Rhine by the bridge at that place.
The battle of Enzheim followed; this was a tactical victory, but hardly affected the situation, and, at the beginning of December, the allies were still in Alsace.
A swift and secret march in mid-winter from one end of the Vosges to the other took the allies by surprise.
Sharply following up his first successes, Turenne drove the enemy to Turkheim, and there inflicted upon them a heavy defeat (January 5, 1675).
In a few weeks he had completely recovered Alsace.
In the summer campaign he was once more opposed to Montecucculi, and after the highest display of " strategic chess-moves " by both commanders, Turenne finally compelled his opponent to offer battle at a disadvantage at Sassbach.
The news of his death was received with universal sorrow.
Turenne's most eloquent countrymen wrote his iloges, and Montecucculi himself exclaimed: " II est mort aujourd'hui un homme qui faisait honneur a l'homme. "
His body was taken to St Denis and buried with the kings of France.
Even the extreme revolutionists of 1793 respected it, and, when the bones of the sovereigns were thrown to the winds, the remains of Turenne were preserved at the Jardin des Plantes uqtil the 22nd of September 1800, when they were removed by order of Napoleon to the church of the Invalides at Paris, where they still rest.
( The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration...)
Moreover his steady adherence to the Protestant religion was a further element of difficulty in Turenne's relations with the ministers.
He had offered to revive the office of constable of France (suppressed in 1627) in Turenne's favour if the marshal would become a Roman Catholic.
He had always ^distrusted the influence of many dissident and uncontrolled sects; the history of Independency in the English army and people made a deep impression on his mind, and the same fear of indiscipline which drove the English Presbyterians into royalism drew Turenne more and more towards the Roman Catholic Church.
Born of Calvinist parents and educated a Protestant, he had refused to marry one of Richelieu's nieces in 1639 and subsequently rejected a similar proposal of Mazarin. He had later married a daughter of the Protestant Marshal de la Force, to whom he was deeply attached.
